Autumn Bunting Pattern

After a glimpse of my new Autumn Bunting last time, you might like to know that I've got the pattern written up and published. You can download it for free on Ravelry. As normal, if you like it, I do encourage you to make a donation to the Children's Liver Disease Foundation, the charity that I support through my work. I started doing this back in 2008 and, over the years, knitters and crocheters around the world have helped me to raise over £25,000 for this very deserving cause. You can donate directly to the charity or via my fundraising page here.

So ... would you like a closer look at the new pattern? Like my Spring Bunting, there are all sorts of details to find.

It's a very long pattern - 24 pages - the proofreading alone took hours. What you get though is lots of little patterns: two sorts of flags, the knitted letters and then five decorations. These could be knitted separately and sewn on to scarves or hats or, in the case of the hedgehogs, used as toys or ornaments.

I got a bit carried away with the hedgehogs and, as well as the slightly flat one used on the bunting (think road kill, only less kill and more mildly squashed), I included a pattern for a smaller hedgehog too so that you could make a family of fatter ones as little toys.

I rather like the toadstool too. It's not easy to design something small and simple to knit that still looks like what it's meant to be. The trick with this design is not to make it too regular; it turns out that a leaning toadstool looks much more natural than a straight one.

My favourite part of this pattern though has got to be the fox's head. This was the most challenging thing to design; in the end I built it up in knitted layers and then added embroidery to bring it to life.

I hope people won't be put off by the embroidery; it's really not that difficult to do. Those fur-like little stitches around the edges of the knitted shapes make all the difference. Before I added them, it could just have easily been a deer's head.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this latest variation of my bunting patterns. Next year, when I've recovered from writing such a long pattern, I'm hoping to complete the set with some Summer and Winter themed bunting.